Police arrest four Chinese illegal miners

The police impounded four excavators, three pump action guns and 68 cartridges used by the ‘galamsey’ operators at their mining site.

The police have arrested four illegal miners at Topremang, near Akwatia in the Denkyembour District in the Eastern Region. The suspects, who are all Chinese, are Jac Wang, 36; Zhu Jing Sheng, 47; Zhong Hongua, 36, and Li Yi, 32.

Five excavators, two Toyota pick-ups, a box of live ammunition, a pump action gun, two locally manufactured guns and a silver pan containing gold dust were impounded by the police during the arrest which took place last Saturday.

The arrest of the miners followed an operation conducted by the Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) of the Eastern Regional Police Command to flush out illegal miners from the region.

Briefing

Briefing the Daily Graphic in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr George Alex Mensah, said the suspects, who are currently in police custody, would be put before court, pending further investigations into their activities.

DCOP Mensah, who expressed deep concern over the harm illegal mining was causing to the environment in the region, called on all stakeholders to get involved in the fight against the menace to save the environment and the country.

“This is our country and it is necessary that we all rally behind the national cause to fight and reduce the negative impact of galamsey,” he urged.

Similar arrests

On April 1, this year, 10 people, including seven Chinese, who were mining illegally at Denkyira, a village near Nkawkaw, were arrested by the police.

The police impounded four excavators, three pump action guns and 68 cartridges used by the ‘galamsey’ operators at their mining site.

The seven Chinese were charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit crime, mining without licence, possessing firearms and using explosives and ammunition.